Sheena Russell

People Who you need to know

LOVING LOCAL

Promoting regional food producers is a priority for Made with Local’s Sheena Russell

By Carolyn Cooper Photography by Aaron McKenzie Fraser

Sheena RusseLL grew up on her family farm loving to bake, and had always considered herself close to the food scene in Atlantic Canada. So after starting a career with the City of Halifax, baking became a natural creative outlet, and with the help of a co-worker, a successful side hustle.

“My friend and I kept each other accountable to take on this fun little side business of creating snacks that fuelled us,” recalls Russell, founder and CEO of Dartmouth, N.S.-based Made with Local Snack Foods. “We were busy young professionals. We went to the gym together a lot, and we both really loved good food. But in 2012 it was really hard to find nutritious portable foods that actually tasted good. So we just knew we could do better.”

Committed to supporting local suppliers, the entrepreneurs worked after hours at a friend’s café baking and packaging their Real Food Bars to sell on weekends at Halifax farmers markets. Their first goal was that the snacks had to taste delicious. “We knew we could achieve that by committing to partnering with local farmers and food producers as a deeper value proposition,” says Russell. “The thing that felt very near and dear to my heart was to partner with suppliers that we really had a strong connection to.”

They quickly built a customer base for the bars, and were soon selling at coffee shops and independent retailers. There was so much demand that after having her first daughter, Russell decided to quit her day job. “I knew at that point we were going to need some support to make these bars and get them out into the world. And that was what led me to The Flower Cart Group,” she explains. “They have a small co-packing kitchen, and their intention is to create safe and dignified work for adults experiencing barriers to the mainstream workforce.” When the organization reached out to Russell, she says it was a huge “a-ha” moment. “I was thinking, we’ve got this opportunity to not only create these nourishing snacks with local ingredients and impact local farmers and food producers, but now the way that they’re being manufactured has a social impact component to it. It’s an innovative model that has a traceable, quantifiable impact on the community.”

Being able to measure that impact is what led the company to obtain B Corporation status. “We have our own tools to measure by, but B Corp certification is the Holy Grail of sustainability, ethics and governance certification,” explains Russell. “There are lots of different food certifications out there for food companies, but it was the one that felt the most crucial to us, and aligned most firmly with the values of the company.”

Since starting to work with Flower Cart in 2014, Russell says the business has grown tenfold. Today, Made with Local products are found in more than 1,500 retailers across Canada, including all major grocers. The company’s main product line continues to be its 53-gram Real Food Bars, available in six SKUs plus seasonal varieties. Top sellers include Chocolate Mint Chip, Peanut Butter Blondie, and Coconut in the Dark. Packed with nutrition and flavour, the bars are made with organic Canadian ingredients such as honey, nut butters, cranberries, blueberries, hemp seeds and molasses, as well as fair-trade spices and chocolate.

Also popular is the company’s 300gram Granola Bar Mix, which can be baked into bars, muffins or cakes. “Our key demographic is millennial women, many of whom are now moms, and they’re looking for easy lunch box options,” says Russell. “Because of our unique manufacturing model, it was challenging to figure out how to do nut-free, because our priority is focusing on the social enterprise bakery partnerships. But we decided we could create a different kind of product that would enable folks to have a nut-free, DIY format.” A one-kilogram version of the mix launched in Costco outlets in Eastern Canada in 2021.

Russell says the company will launch both new innovations and U.S. distribution within the next 18 to 24 months. As well as plant-based proteins, “we are playing with functional ingredients,” she says, noting that in the past they “intentionally stayed away from ingredients that historically have a very poor track record of how they are cultivated and sourced in other parts of the world.” However, she says, “there are lots of incredible Canadian-grown superfoods that are becoming more widely accepted and sought after by health-conscious consumers, so that’s something we’re looking into. We’re having a lot of fun in the kitchen right now.” CG

30 seconds with…

SHEENA RUSSELL

What’s your vision for Made with Local?

To reinvent how people think about food manufacturing and food impact. Every single decision that every CPG founder makes has positive or negative impacts on the community and the world around them. This is kind of a cliché, but business is something that can be a force for good in the world, and that’s something we live and die by here. So we want to inspire other brands to be conscious, and other leaders to be conscious about how they build their companies. We do have hard business goals, of course, but at the forefront of that is always going to be simple, nourishing foods that have a deep impact.

What do you like most about your job?

I just love it; every single day is different. I never consciously planned to be an entrepreneur, but I found myself in this position where I had this little company, and I realized how fun it is putting out different fires every day, meeting new people and learning new things.

What’s the biggest reward of working in the food industry?

Creating foods that people use to nourish their busy lives and are emotionally attached to is an incredibly privileged position to be in.

What’s your favourite food?

We get a local veggie delivery and I have a monthly local meat subscription, so I like throwing together simple, nourishing dishes with whatever’s in season, when possible.